Stamford nursing home converted to nonprofit under Fla. operator

Published 8:41 pm, Thursday, January 22, 2015

The exterior of Long Ridge of Stamford nursing and rehabitlitation center on Thursday, January 22, 2015. Mangement of the nursing home has been transfered from Healthbridge to Traditions Senior Management.

The exterior of Long Ridge of Stamford nursing and rehabitlitation center on Thursday, January 22, 2015. Mangement of the nursing home has been transfered from Healthbridge to Traditions Senior Management.

The lobby of Long Ridge of Stamford nursing and rehabitlitation center on Thursday, January 22, 2015. Mangement of the nursing home has been transfered from Healthbridge to Traditions Senior Management.

The lobby of Long Ridge of Stamford nursing and rehabitlitation center on Thursday, January 22, 2015. Mangement of the nursing home has been transfered from Healthbridge to Traditions Senior Management.

The exterior of Long Ridge of Stamford nursing and rehabitlitation center on Thursday, January 22, 2015. Mangement of the nursing home has been transfered from Healthbridge to Traditions Senior Management.

The exterior of Long Ridge of Stamford nursing and rehabitlitation center on Thursday, January 22, 2015. Mangement of the nursing home has been transfered from Healthbridge to Traditions Senior Management.

A single room at Long Ridge of Stamford nursing and rehabitlitation center on Thursday, January 22, 2015. Mangement of the nursing home has been transfered from Healthbridge to Traditions Senior Management.

A single room at Long Ridge of Stamford nursing and rehabitlitation center on Thursday, January 22, 2015. Mangement of the nursing home has been transfered from Healthbridge to Traditions Senior Management.

The dining area in Long Ridge of Stamford nursing and rehabitlitation center on Thursday, January 22, 2015. Mangement of the nursing home has been transfered from Healthbridge to Traditions Senior Management.

The dining area in Long Ridge of Stamford nursing and rehabitlitation center on Thursday, January 22, 2015. Mangement of the nursing home has been transfered from Healthbridge to Traditions Senior Management.

The rehabilitation room at Long Ridge of Stamford nursing and rehabitlitation center on Thursday, January 22, 2015. Mangement of the nursing home has been transfered from Healthbridge to Traditions Senior Management. less

The rehabilitation room at Long Ridge of Stamford nursing and rehabitlitation center on Thursday, January 22, 2015. Mangement of the nursing home has been transfered from Healthbridge to Traditions Senior ... more

The exterior of Long Ridge of Stamford nursing and rehabitlitation center on Thursday, January 22, 2015. Mangement of the nursing home has been transfered from Healthbridge to Traditions Senior Management.

The exterior of Long Ridge of Stamford nursing and rehabitlitation center on Thursday, January 22, 2015. Mangement of the nursing home has been transfered from Healthbridge to Traditions Senior Management.

Promising a reinvigorated staff and sunshiny outlook, a Florida-based nursing home operator has quietly taken over management of the Long Ridge of Stamford facility previously run by HealthBridge, following a bankruptcy proceeding and acrimonious labor dispute that sparked an intervention by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

The nursing home has yet to unveil a new name to the public, but in a Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services filing has indicated it will use the name Long Ridge Post Acute Care, reflecting its longtime focus helping people recover from strokes, falls and other trauma. Long Ridge is now operated by Traditions Senior Management, a Clearwater, Fla.-based company that runs homes in several states, but until now none in the Northeast.

In later court documents, HealthBridge projected mounting losses at the facilities, including a deficit forecast in excess of $10 million for 2015.

Turnaround specialists?

The Long Ridge building will be owned by a nonprofit going forward, according to Ben Atkins, executive chairman of Traditions Senior Management, under a 501(c)(3) organization called Eagle Lake, with the for-profit Traditions managing the facility. In all, Traditions will manage about 1,200 employees in Connecticut, including 200 in Stamford.

A "shockingly beautiful" building in Atkins' words, Long Ridge Post Acute Care has 120 beds in about 70,000 square feet of space on 6 acres.

A native of West Hartford, Atkins said he had been aware of HealthBridge's labor dispute in Connecticut when it became national news. That year, his company would take over a HealthBridge convalescent home in Raleigh, N.C., which was on its last legs with just one or two residents remaining. Today, Atkins said the home is "pretty much full" and has been awarded high ratings by Medicare and U.S. News and World Report, among others.

Medicare assigned Long Ridge of Stamford a two-star rating on its most recent assessment. By comparison, two other local nursing homes received overall five-star ratings: Edgehill Health Center and Regency Heights of Stamford.

Long Ridge of Stamford's rating was torpedoed by its record on health inspections, with the Connecticut Department of Public Health reprimanding the home in May 2014 following inspections a year earlier that detailed 15 violations involving patients in its care. That citation resulted in a $2,000 civil penalty.

Medicare awarded Long Ridge of Stamford its top rating for staffing and quality outcomes of people in its care, but that was not enough to lift its overall rating.

"Two years ago, we saw these facilities, saw the situation, and realized it was not a situation that was really appetizing for anybody to get involved with," Atkins said. "Then it hit me more recently when things began to stabilize -- employees were back at work, things were stable. Why not do this as a not-for-profit?

"Obviously, it changes the emphasis on negotiations and everything like that," he added.

'Revitalizing' staffers

Atkins said he has been in Stamford every week this month to oversee the transfer and ensure that everybody is on the same page.

"Really, what this facility has needed is a hands-on approach in working with the staff and revitalizing them," Atkins said. "If you walk through that facility now you will see a staff that is excited and motivated for the change. We're really a business about people, and it makes an enormous difference."

He said Traditions extends that personal outreach to its residents, saying the company contacts anyone being admitted to prepare them for their arrival, and checks in with everyone who is discharged to see how things are going back at home.

He said the company has a strong record in minimizing rehospitalization of people who have been under its care, in some homes at half the national average for return visits to the hospital.